Fuel talks breakthrough

Peter Harwood from Acas hails a breakthrough in talks aimed at halting a tanker drivers strike with Diana Holland from Unite and Allan Davison representing employers, hopeful that industrial action can be avoided.

4:26PM BST 14 Apr 2012

The threat of a strike over safety, pay and working conditions resulted in panic buying at petrol stations earlier this month following government warnings to the public to stockpile fuel.

Both sides have agreed that the details of the plan, hammered out under the chairmanship of the conciliation service Acas, will remain confidential.

Peter Harwood, Acas chief conciliator said: "Acas has been shuttling between the parties and the process has been a challenging one but we are pleased to announce that a set of proposals have been reached.

Alan Davison, representing the tanker companies, said: "We are now in a position where we have a final set of proposals and hopefully we can resolve this dispute."